


Singing songs about the past

by sahina



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Humor, M/M, Slice of Life, Tim Being a Little Shit, jon was an emo kid no i will not take critisism, pre or early season one shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:34:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22311088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sahina/pseuds/sahina
Summary: Jon never talked about his past, not really. This is not something that has escaped archival assistants’ knowledge, least of all Tim’s.
Relationships: (not yet requited), Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims
Comments: 11
Kudos: 240





	Singing songs about the past

Jon never talked about his past, not _really_. This is not something that has escaped archival assistants’ knowledge, least of all Tim’s, who was so curious about this strange, tiny man they called boss (no one actually called him boss except for Tim). He wasn’t actively searching for anything, of course, as that would be extremely inappropriate and kind of creepy.

No, the reason he was even curious to begin with was because the host of a podcast he loosely followed mentioned a Jonathan Sims she had attended university with. Surely, it had to be someone who shared his boss’ name, Tim reasoned. He honestly couldn’t imagine Jon being friends or even associate with someone who believed in ghosts and the supernatural to that degree, so of course he had to find out if it really was the same Jon he knew. He was a research assistant after all, it was his job.

Upon asking Sasha if she knew anything, she’d given him an unimpressed look, but as he is prone to do, noticed the shared curiosity peaking out behind it. “I honestly can’t say I know a lot, but I seem to remember him mentioning some sort of friend group at uni?” to which, hilariously, Tim was surprised to hear. “I know he knows Georgie Barker- _I know, right?-_ but that’s about it. Sorry.” 

“That’s fine, Sash. Thanks,” Tim was already reaching into his pocket to fetch his phone so that he could google her name. He hadn’t had any luck with Jon’s. “Want me to keep you updated?”

Laughing, her mouth said, “No, Tim,” but the mischievous glint in her eyes told him _yes_ , _please keep me updated_. Or maybe he was just projecting. Either way, he counted on her as an ally and would definitely be keeping her updated.

Their break was coming up soon, so Tim did what any responsible employee would and started his google quest early. He deserved it. He found some interviews with a few mentions of life at uni present, but it wasn't until he found her facebook that he struck gold. She’d been tagged in a series of photos, the captions quickly told him they were taken around ten years ago, when she’d been in university. If he made a discreet fist pump in the air, no one had to know.

The first one was of a group of people. He spotted her right away. Her hair was braided into long, thin braids that were pulled back and out of her face, which was a big contrast to the buzzed cut she kept to today. Other than that though, not much was different about her, except time (and exams) taking its toll. Next to her though, with an arm slung around her shoulders, was Jon. It actually took him a few moments to place the familiar face. Unlike Georgie, he was _completely_ different. He was wearing something other than his ugly sweater vests and button ups, for once, instead opting for a _M_ _y Chemical Romance_ t-shirt pared with black skinny jeans that were torn at the knees and chunky Doc Martens. Tim zoomed in on his face and squinted at the screen. The man was wearing eyeliner. That wasn’t even what broke Tim, _no sir_ , it was the broad smile he wore. It looked like he’d been in the middle of saying something when someone had made him laugh. He was radiating warmth.

Time had not been kind to Jon, he thought. He never ceased being handsome or anything like that, but there was that constant tension he carried with him, visible in every line of his body, and a hardness to his eyes that were not present in the photo. Tim found himself wondering what happened to make Jon stop smiling openly like that. 

He took a second to look over the other photos. Most of them just featured Georgie with a rotating cast of the same few people. They all dressed very androgynous; make-up, skirts, lots of black (he can’t believe his boss used to be an emo kid. It explained so much) and the occasional rainbow flag. He swiped through them, taking a moment or two to search for Jon. He was only in one other picture. It looked to be taken at a dorm room late at night, the only light source coming from a string of lights on the wall behind the couple the camera was directed at. It didn’t even register that one half of that couple was Jon until he was about to swipe again.

It looked to be taken in the moment, not planned like the one before. Jon and Georgie were sitting together on a couch, a couple of beer bottles littering the table in front of them, Jon was slumped against Georgie and looked to be holding back giggles. His eyes were closed and crinkled around the edges, his smudged eyeshadow looked like it once had held a shape, and pressed to his cheek was Georgie’s lips. She was smiling into the kiss. Both of them were giving the person behind the camera their middle fingers. Despite that, it was rather endearing. Tim’s assumption of them being a couple was validated by the comments on the picture.

Sasha, having gone for coffee, reentered the room at that moment. Tim met her eyes, wearing the expression of a madman. She raised an eyebrow.

He flashed his phone in her direction. “Scully, you’re not gonna believe this.”

* * *

Martin appeared a few hours past lunch, looking very much defeated.

“Field work not gone well then?” Tim asked and perched on the side of Martin’s desk, who groaned in response and let his head fall to his folded arms. Tim patted his head emphatically. 

“I couldn’t find anything at the location and the victim gave nothing of use during the interview.” Martin raised his head to look at the door to their boss’ office, anxiously chewing on his bottom lip. “Jon’s going to be disappointed.” Tim gave him another pat.

“That’s rough, buddy.”

Martin allowed his head to drop again. “Mhm.”

Struggling to find something to comfort his colleague, Tim recalled his earlier findings. Grinning, Tim went to retrieve his phone, alerting Sasha to his actions. He made sure to wink at her as he passed.

“Martin, you have to see this.“ Tim began, making Martin straighten out to sit properly. He handed over his phone, with the picture of Jon with his friends from university on the screen. He decided not to show the one with Georgie kissing him, even if it’s just on the cheek it felt a bit insensitive since it was painfully obvious that Martin liked him. “Can you believe that’s our Jon, right there?”

“I never noticed that his ears are pierced,” Sasha commented from the other side of the room. “He should start wearing those silver studs again. Subtle, but stylish.” At that, Tim made a sound of agreement.

He looked away from Sasha to gauge Martin’s reaction and was instantly caught off guard. The lines around Marin’s mouth had softened, almost curving into a smile as he took in the picture. Tim suddenly felt like he was intruding.

He was about to ask his phone back when the door to Jon’s office opened. Tim hadn’t even realised he’d stopped  
recording. Jon paused, a bit put out by all three of his assistants heads snapping towards him. “I’m sorry to interrupt your _hard_ _working,”_ Tim rolled his eyes at that. Jon took a second glare at him, then his gaze flicked over to Martin and Tim did not miss the harshness of it melting away a little. “but I need the notes on the case you looked into. Can you forward them to me?”

“S-sure!” Martin all but squeaked out. Tim really found his crush endearing, he really did, but he could not for the life of him see what Martin saw in Jon.

Jon cleared his throat and nodded. “Thank you. That was all. I’ll be recording soon again, so please don’t interrupt unless it’s important.”

Before Tim could think about what he was doing, he snatched his phone from Martin’s grip. “Wait, boss. I found something you might be interested in.”

Visibly annoyed, Jon made his way over to Tim. “What is it?” he bit out. Tim pretended not to see Martin’s rapidly paling face or Sasha hiding a smile behind her hand.

“Oh, you know,” Tim grinned at him. “just something I found earlier. Here.” He passed Jon his phone and leaned back the desk behind him. He swore Matin stopped breathing right as Jon took the phone. It took a moment for their boss to register just was he was looking at, pushing his glasses into his hair and squinting at the screen, before he realised just what he was looking at. Frozen, Jon stared at the screen. It would’ve been a cause of concern, seeing the usually very animated Jon standing so still he could’ve been a wax figure, had his cheeks not gotten redder by the second. Taking a moment to compose himself, he cleared his throat and handed a very smug looking Tim his phone back.

“This, uh,” he said dumbly, his ears turning red as well. “Where did you find this?”

“The host of _What the Ghost?_ podcast mentioned you. Georgie Barker, I think her name is?,” the horror on his face made Tim swallow back the urge to laugh. Judging by the choked sounds he could hear coming from Sasha’s desk she was fighting the same battle and losing. “Well, I googled her and found this! I must admit, boss, I didn’t take you for a fan of that particular... _brand_ of music.” Tim said gleefully. Jon sputtered, trying for some accusation of unnecessary digging while attempting to find an excuse about the shirt not being his. Sasha had completely lost it and even Martin had started giggling.

“I, uh,” Jon’s words died on his tongue as soon as they came. He returned Tim’s phone. “Uh. I will be in my, my office. If anyone needs me.” He finally stammered out and turned on his heel to briskly make his escape. Tim couldn’t keep his own laughter back anymore at sight of him fleeing.

“Do you think he’s mad?” Martin wonders aloud, after a few minutes have passed, lifting his glasses to wipe at his eyes. Tim closed his phone, still displaying the image, and pocketed it. He looked towards the closed office door to his right, with Jon probably busying himself with a few angry texts behind it. Just the thought of that made Tim cack another smile.

“Nah,” Sasha said, grinning at the two of them. “He’s just embarrassed. If he was angry we would have been yelled at. I promise you, he will never talk about this again if no one brings it up.”

“Oh no, he’s not getting off that easy.” Tim made sure to keep his voice loud enough for Jon to hear. “I’m never letting him live this down!” He may have been imagining it, but he swore he could hear grumbling through the door.

**Author's Note:**

> i have a tumblr! you can find me at https://mx-wayne.tumblr.com/, screaming abut tma


End file.
